Agriculture Survey 2000



Introduction
The 2000 Agriculture Survey is a follow up of 1999 Census of Agriculture and is part of the "Agricultural Census and Statistics" project, TCP / SAM / 8921 jointly funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, and the Government of Samoa.

The Survey was conducted as a joint exercise between the Department of Statistics (DOS) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests, Fisheries and Meteorology (MAFFM).

The fieldwork was conducted in October/November for the three weeks by a team of thirty enumerators. The Agriculture extension officers were employed as supervisors during the enumeration period.

The 1999 Agriculture Census results were used as frame in which a ten percent sample was selected. A total of 2,302 households were enumerated for the whole country broken down into 4 Regions as follows:


Number of Households Enumerated by Region
Total (Samoa) Apia Urban Area North West Upolu Rest of Upolu Savaii
1935 466 601 398 470

Survey Methodology
Census or complete enumeration of a population was thought to be the only way to collect reliable information about that population. However, the resources required are enormous and the respondent burden is great. The development of sampling theory over the last 50 years or so, has overcome this problem. Today, sample survey are universally accepted as providing reliable information about the entire population with much less resources.

For Statistical purposes, Samoa is divided into four Regions: Apia Urban Area (AUA), North West Upolu (NWU), Rest of Upolu (ROU) and Savaii (SAV). These four regions are further sub divided into villages. Villages are further sub divided into Enumeration Area (EA), 878 in total.

The 2000 Agricultural Survey was based on a ten percent (10%) sample selected systematically. That is, every tenth enumeration block was selected from a random start, and all households in the selected blocks were included in the sample.

The above methodology relies on the enumeration areas being of similar size to ensure that when the weights are applied to the household and individual counts, the population counts of households and individuals are closely approximated.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. The number of households and person in each enumeration area varies enormously.

To overcome this problem, the initial sample selection weights were adjusted to benchmark them to the official number of households per region from the 1999 Agricultural Census.



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Summary of Results.

Agricultural Activity

Total Number of households 20,521
Number of Agriculturally active households 16,615
Number of Non-agricultural households 2,619
Number of Minor-agricultural households 1,735
Total number of holdings 16,615
Total number of parcels 35,964

Sale of Major Crops

Percentage of Agriculturally active households selling young and/or matured coconuts

8%

Percentage of Agriculturally active households selling copra

5%

Percentage of Agriculturally active households selling cocoa

8%

Percentage of Agriculturally active households selling bananas

12%

Percentage of Agriculturally active households selling taro

12%

Percentage of Agriculturally active households selling taamu

13%


Consumption of Major Crops

Percentage of households consuming young coconuts

28%

Average weekly consumption

11 nuts

Percentage of households using coconuts for cooking

71%

Average number of coconuts used for cooking per week

35 nuts

Percentage of households using coconuts for feeding animals

58%

Average number of coconuts used for feeding animals per week

99 nuts

Percentage of households consuming cocoa

47%

Average weekly consumption of cocoa

4 cups

Percentage of households consuming banana

78%

Average weekly consumption of banana

2 bunches

Percentage of households consuming taro

42%

Average weekly consumption of taro

22 pieces

Percentage of households consuming taro palagi

29%

Average weekly consumption of taro palagi

2 baskets

Percentage of households consuming taamu

65%

Average weekly consumption of taamu

3 pieces



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Livestock and Poultry - Number of livestock kept as of day of enumeration

Pigs

170,000

Goats

300

Chicken

440,000


Fisheries

Percentage of households engaged in fishing = 21%



Percentage of Pelagic fish (in tala) caught and

(I) Eaten = 11%


(II)Sold / Given away = 88%



Percentage of reef fish (in tala) caught and

(I) Eaten = 50%


(II) Sold / Given away = 50%



Percentage of Figota (in tala) caught and

(I) Eaten = 48%


(II) Sold / Given away = 52%




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